Chapter 456


    Raon was about to respond but shut his mouth once again.


    <em>‘I shouldn’t reply thoughtlessly.’</em>


    It was none other than the head of house himself that had asked him whether he wanted to be the head of house. It was a question that he shouldn’t respond to without thinking it through.


    <strong>Hmm?</strong>


    Wrath narrowed his eyes and red at him, asking what he was doing.


    <strong>What are you waiting for? Just answer him already! Answer before that geezer gives you the Nadine bread! You don’t want to be the head of house anyway!</strong>


    He shook his hand, asking why he would be the head of house when he should be a demon king in Devildom.


    <em>‘Yes, that’s what I used to think.’</em>


    The Sephia Company’s president, Adis Sephia, was thest person he’d talked to about bing the head of house.He had asked Raon whether he wanted to be Zieghart’s head of house or not before left thepany, and Raon had responded that he wasn’t sure yet.


    <em>‘But my opinion has changed slightly now.’</em>


    He was about to respond to Glenn’s question the same way he’d done to Adis Sephia, but he realized that his mind had changed.


    <em>‘Because I saw what happened at House Arianne.’</em>


    During the mission at House Arianne, he’d witnessed how an ipetent leader could ruin the house and make their members suffer. That was why he’d changed his mind slightly.


    <em>‘I don’t exactly want to be the head of house myself, I just don’t want anyone ipetent to be the head of house.’</em>


    One of the pce masters was bound to be the next head of Zieghart at the rate things were going.


    Glenn’s first daughter, who was outside the house, Karoon from the Central Martial Pce, Denier from the Wise Martial Pce, and Balder from the True Martial Pce were the biggest candidates to be the next head.


    Other than them, there were an extremely small number of Grandmasters—like Roenn and Sheryl—but they had no intention at all of bing the head of house.


    They weren’t going to show up unless some madman crossed Zieghart’s gate and started to attack.


    <em>‘Denier seems to be the best among the pce masters, but the truth might be different.’</em>


    Even though Denier was the most decent choice among the direct lines, it could’ve been just the tip of the iceberg.


    He couldn’t easily trust him since he’d seen people like Derus.


    He didn’t want to see a greedy pig bing the head of house just to do whatever they wanted with Zieghart.


    <em>‘I must’ve grown attached to Zieghart at this point. I thought I would never feel anything like attachment.’</em>


    When he’d realized that he was born in Zieghart, he’d nned to leave the house after getting what he wanted.


    However, he’d opened his heart to Sylvia and the maids, Rimmer became his teacher, and the Light Wind division became his brothers and sisters. In the end, he’d developed a significant amount of affection towards the house.


    His goal to cut Derus Robert’s throat was still unchanged, but his decision to leave the house was faltering.


    “Well…”


    He raised his gaze. He smiled faintly at Glenn, who was quietly waiting for his answer.


    <em>‘I think I can now understand the head of house’s personality a little.’</em>


    Glenn’s cold gaze and pressure still chilled his bones, but Raon had begun to grasp his likes and dislikes.


    “Hmm.”


    Raon put his thoughts together before he cleared his throat.


    “To be honest, I’m not too sure whether my path is headed toward bing the head of house or not. However, I do think that it would be better for me to be the head myself than to watch an unqualified person be the head.”


    He honestly told him what he’d been thinking.


    <strong>Huh? Why would you do that?!</strong>


    Wrath barked and shoved his face onto him.


    <strong>You need to be the demon king! Your face is already screaming that you should be one! Toy with everyone in Devildom and make fun of them!</strong>


    He shouted at Raon to turn the other demons into his ythings in Devildom. Raon didn’t know what he meant by his face being that of a demon king, but he didn’t really want to go to Devildom.


    Glenn quietly stared into his eyes to figure out his true intentions before he nodded.


    “I see.”


    His lips curved into a faint smile. Raon felt like it was his first time seeing that kind of smile from him.


    “It looks like you’ve broadened your horizons.”


    Glenn seemed satisfied with the answer considering how peaceful he sounded.


    “We’ve lost too much time from the random talk. We will have to continue for a bit longer today.”


    “Yes.”


    Raon nodded and raised Heavenly Drive once again.


    Just as he was about to use the first technique of the <em>Azure Sky Sword</em>, he heard the sound of the back door of the annex building opening.


    Raon looked around and saw Sylvia bringing a white te towards him.


    “……”


    Glenn was calmly staring at her. He must’ve been aware of her presence.


    “I-I prepared them because I thought you might be hungry at thiste hour.”


    Sylvia ced the te on the table in front of theke while saying that the sandwiches were made by her personally.


    The nutty vor of the butter bread was tickling the nose.


    <strong>Ooh!</strong>


    Wrath had been frowning, but he suddenly raised his head.


    <strong>You are the best, Mom!</strong>


    <em>‘She’s not your mom!’</em>


    Raon pped Wrath away as he kept clinging to him and walked up to Sylvia.


    “I thought you were sleeping.”


    “I couldn’t fall asleep today.”


    Sylvia smiled with her eyes half open. She wasn’t showing it on the outside, but she must’ve been worried ever since she’d learned about his sword duel against Ayad.


    “Err, my lord…”


    She furtively rolled her eyes to look at Glenn.


    Glenn nodded, showing that he was listening.


    “I-it was nothing! Raon, good luck with your lesson. Please eat it right away since I just made it!”


    Sylvia bowed to Glenn before she hurriedly returned to the annex building.


    <em>‘Is she still afraid of him?’</em>


    Raon bitterly watched Sylvia before he went to Glenn with the te in his hands.


    “My mother is great at making sandwiches out of all food. You won’t be disappointed.”


    Raon confidently held out the te.


    “…I see.”


    Glenn stared at the slightly steamy sandwiches for a long time. His hand seemed to be trembling slightly as he picked it up and took a bite.


    Raon also picked up a sandwich while standing next to Glenn. He took a bite while looking at Wrath, who was drooling.


    Inside the crunchy and nutty bread, the fruit jam, ham, and cheese were forming a perfect harmony.


    <strong>Wow, it’s as delicious as always! It’s theplete opposite of the shitty Nadine bread!</strong>


    <em>‘But you haven’t had any Nadine bread in a long time.’</em>


    <strong>Hmph. Don’t let your guard down! We never know when that geezer might be hiding Nadine bread in his clothes.</strong>


    <em>‘I don’t think so.’</em>


    Raon shook his head, and Glenn’s voice could be heard.


    “Delicious.”


    He quietly eximed and ate the sandwich little by little. He almost looked like he was saving it because he didn’t want it to disappear.


    “I know, right?”


    Raon smiled faintly and nodded.


    A moment of silence followed. The surface of theke was only disturbed by the quiet sound of bugs and sound of them eating the sandwiches.


    “We will continue for another hour today.”


    “Understood.”


    “I brought Nadine bread, but it won’t be necessary.”


    “……”


    <strong>See?</strong>


    * * *


    * * *


    “Argh!”


    Burren bit his lip while looking at the green tornado soaring from right under his feet to all the way into the sky.


    <em>‘Damn it… It hurts so damn much.’</em>


    He felt like his skin was tearing apart from the ded wind rotating around him. He thought he had a high resistance to wind, but it was still difficult to endure.


    <em>‘Because I’m not allowed to counterattack or block.’</em>


    Enduring it was all he could do since Rimmer had told him to take it with his body and mind without blocking it with his aura or cutting it down with a sword.


    <em>‘Yes, I’ll endure it no matter what.’</em>


    He was determined to endure that much pain in order to see Raon’s back and earn the recognition of his father.


    <em>‘Well, I’m in better shape here.’</em>


    Burren sighed and looked to his right.


    “Argh…”


    Runaan was groaning in icy water while wearing a swimsuit. Of course, that water wasn’t ordinary icy water.


    It was even colder than ice, and Rimmer had requested the vice master of Zieghart’s tower to create it. The coldness of at least a fifth circle spell was supposedly dwelling in it.


    “Haa…”


    Runaan bit her blue lips and looked at her reflection on the surface of the water.


    <em>‘It’s too cold…’</em>


    She’d never felt cold in her life because she had been blessed by ice ever since her birth. That was why the coldness felt even more painful than a de.


    <em>‘I can still endure it.’</em>


    Her body had already reached its limits, but her mind could still keep going.


    She wanted to be a Master as fast as possible in order to repay even a portion of the favor she owed Raon.


    <em>‘And there’s also the matter with my brother…’</em>


    The conflict against Syria still wasn’t over. It was necessary to reach even further in order to protect her family from him.


    “Haa…”


    White steam was emerging from her mouth, and the sound of grinding teeth could be heard from the opposite side.


    <strong>Crack.</strong>


    It wasing from Martha. She waspletely buried in the ground except for her head with a frown on her face.


    “Hey! Why am I getting the worst treatment?”


    Martha barked out the words while looking at Rimmer, who was dozing off in a rocking chair.


    “Why am I the only one buried in the ground?! And I keep getting pressured! My body is about to be crushed!”


    Her twitching eyebrows revealed the intense pain she was feeling.


    “Yaawn…”


    Rimmer let out a long yawned and only raised his head.


    “What else? It’s because you have the earth attribute, of course.”


    He licked his lips while scratching his neck.


    “Burren is inside a tornado because he has the wind attribute, Runaan is inside icy water because of her coldness, and you are buried under the ground because you have an affinity to the earth. I already exined this in the beginning.”


    “You didn’t, though.”


    “No, you didn’t!”


    “You didn’t!”


    Runaan, Burren, and Martha shouted at once.


    “Oh, really? I guess I forgot.”


    Rimmer smiled awkwardly and scratched his head.


    “Well, I’ll tell you briefly since it’s annoying. All of you have a pretty high affinity with your attributes. It’s almost as good as an elf, but it’s still not enough to achieve something with. You need to increase it a lot more.”


    His eyes became serious.


    “You can trust me since I’ve realized it with my own experience.”


    Rimmer wagged his finger while looking at the frowning team leaders.


    “Your attributes and mental image will achieve another level of progress if you manage to endure that pain.”


    Rimmer had be capable of using lightning energy from getting continuously struck by Glenn’s lightning, and it had even improved his <em>Sword Field Creation</em>.


    He believed that the team leaders could reach even higher than him considering their excellent talents and their young ages.


    “But this is…”


    “Hard.”


    “Yes, I’m going to die.”


    “You are free to stop whenever you want to. But did you know about this?”


    Rimmer continued with a grin.


    “I heard the head of house is training Raon once again. You really will miss his back at this rate, don’t you think?”


    He shook his hand, and a fervor appeared in their eyes.


    “This much is nyathing!”


    “Yeah, it’s not a big deal!”


    “Mhm.”


    Martha, Burren, and Runaan rolled their lips into a smile and nodded—as if they had neverined about it.


    “I’m going to have a nap!”


    Rimmer nodded in satisfaction and buried himself into the rocking chair once again.


    “By the way…”


    Runaan stared at Martha, who was buried except for her head.


    “Miss Rakshasa. Is that nyathing for you?”


    She blinked her eyes to make fun of how Martha had bitten her tongue.


    “Screw you!”


    Martha’s chin was trembling violently, but she was buried in the ground and couldn’te out.


    “I’ll kill you!”


    “Say that again once you are out of there.”


    “Heeey!”


    “Please stop fighting…”


    Rimmer rolled his lips into a smile while listening to their voices.


    “They are such good friends.”


    * * *


    Raon was standing on theke with his eyes closed.


    The small waves on the surface of the water started to subside as Raon’s breath harmonized with theke’s flow.


    Even though Raon’s feet were touching the surface and a powerful wind was blowing, theke didn’t waver in the slightest.


    Raon had achieved the space domination that Glenn had previously demonstrated, even if it was still weak.


    Raon didn’t pay attention to his amazing achievement and only focused on assimting his aura with theke’s flow.


    <strong>Whir.</strong>


    His breath started to melt down into theke as if he werebining with it.


    He continued his meditation and training at the same time for a long time, and a small voice could be heard from outside theke.


    “Young master.”


    Raon opened his eyes upon hearing Judiel’s voice. She was waving her hand with a in expression just like always.


    “It’s time to go to the arena.”


    “Is it already time?”


    Raon raised his head to look at the sky. The sun was slowly approaching towards the center of the sky.


    <em>‘Time passed by so quickly.’</em>


    The date of the sword duel against Ayad was approaching a lot faster than he’d thought, probably because he’d been training all along.


    The time must’ve flowed unusually fast because he’d been practicing what he’d learned from Glenn all day long.


    <strong>It must’ve been fast for you.</strong>


    Wrath frowned with trembling shoulders.


    <strong>It was as slow as a snail because the King of Essence still didn’t get his ice cream!</strong>


    <em>‘That’s why I promised that I’d make you a buffet with bead ice cream.’</em>


    <strong>How is he supposed to trust you when you didn’t even keep your promise for a whole month?!</strong>


    <em>‘I’m really going to the shop after today’s battle. It’s true.’</em>


    <strong>R-really?</strong>


    <em>‘You can trust me today. Just cheer for me from behind, since nothing else should happen.’</em>


    <strong>Alright!</strong>


    Wrath nodded and frantically shook his round hand. It seemed to be his way of cheering.


    Raon smiled faintly and walked out of theke. Unlike before, there wasn’t even the slightest wave on the surface.


    <em>‘I can finally do it a little.’</em>


    It wasn’t as good as Glenn''s but he seemed to have somewhat managed to turn that smallke into his domain.


    “How about mother?”


    “She went ahead to the arena because she was too nervous to wait any longer. She carried Lady Helen on her back because she was trembling too hard.”


    “Is that so?”


    Raon chuckled. Sylvia and Helen had previously told him that they believed in him as if they weren’t worried about him, but they must’ve been extremely nervous in reality.


    “I also need to get ready now.”


    Just as he was about to go to the annex building to fetch his ck Dragon Coat, he saw a woman with hair as red as fire walking towards him through the garden.


    The beautiful swordswoman with that unforgettable shy appearance belonged to the leader of the Void Sword division, Serena. She stood in front of Raon and greeted him with her eyes.


    “It’s been a while, Light Wind vice division leader.”


    “What brought you here, division leader?”


    “May I have a word?”


    Raon looked at Judiel. She nodded to him, implying that they still had some time.


    “Pleasee this way.”


    He brought Serena to the garden.


    Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at her face, which was as expressionless as a mask.


    “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to go easy on the White Lotus division leader, even if you are on friendly terms with him.”


    “I became a trainee at the same time as him. We started together.”


    Serena started to tell her story with an emotionless voice. Raon couldn’t understand what she had in mind.


    “We joined different divisions during the Selection Ceremony, but we became team leaders and vice division leaders at around the same time. We were more like rivals rather than friends.”


    In fact, Ayad and Serena were the first division leaders who’d visited him before the Selection Ceremony.


    “However, our differences started to gradually grow after we both became division leaders. I managed to surpass the wall before him.”


    Raon was also aware of that fact, even though most of the house’s swordsmen had already considered Serena to be better than Ayad even before she’d be a Grandmaster.


    “We met each other from time to time to discuss the sword, but he stopped showing up at some point. He kept staying outside the house to carry out missions.”


    Raon decided to quietly listen to her since he couldn’t determine her intentions.


    “Since our Void Sword division and the White Lotus division were rivals, we knew the faces of each other''s members. However, their members gradually switched to strangers at some point.”


    “Hmm…”


    “I thought, at first, that the sacrifice must’ve been inevitable because they were carrying out so many missions…but it became worse and worse. The talented ones survived, and the others ended up dead. It could be called a natural oue, but the powerful ones aren’t the only ones to survive in an actual battlefield, as you should be aware.”


    “That’s true.”


    An excellent talent didn’t guarantee continued survival, and having no talent didn’t imply that they were going to die.


    Since it depended on various factors like the situation and luck, it was impossible for the weak to be the only ones to die.


    “Now that I think about it, I think I didn’t want to ept that fact even though I was aware. I kept waiting while thinking that he would regain his senses and eventually return since he wasn’t a bad guy. However, the situation kept bing worse and worse. I’m also at fault for this incident. I’m nning to tell the head of house about it after the sword duel.”


    “You don’t need to go that far…”


    “No, I need to do this. I wish that I’d realized it faster…”


    Serena smiled for the first time and shook her head.


    “You said a moment ago that you had no intention of going easy on him, right? You should definitely do that. I would normally be the one to beat him to death, but you challenged him before me. That’s why you should thoroughly defeat him. He will learn his lesson if his arm gets cut off or something.”


    She politely lowered her head to Raon, asking him to teach him a lesson before she left.


    “I’m sorry, but…”


    Raon stroked Heavenly Drive’s scabbard while watching Serena’s back as she left.


    “A single arm is far from enough.”